Jewelry setting



Sept. 4, 1934.

JEWELRY SETTING Filed 001;. 31, 1932 a, a 11 ey-4 9 F21 I \HarryL'M/iubnventor MM. oaw

96w Gttopneig H. L.'WlTTE' Patented Sept. 4, 1934 1,972,726 JEWELRY SETTING Harry L. Witte,

Philadelphia, Pa.

Application October 31, 1932, Serial No. 640,469

3 Claims.

My jewelry setting contains a sculptured plaque having a design on its upperface formed by raising or depressing its surface-an intaglio or rilievopositioned at a lower part of the 5 setting, usually at the bottom of the setting.

Above the plaque is placed a transparent real or imitation stone, usually colored, that is in the form of a lens, by which I mean to include any shape giving a magnifying effect without substantial distortion. The sculptured plaque may be either separate from, secured to or form part of the back of the setting. The distance from the lens shaped stone to the plaque is less than the focal length of the lens shaped stone,

is and this produces an effect additional to the magnification of the design on the plaque-the intaglio or rilievo-because the difference in distance between the stone and the raised and depressed portions of the plaque will amplify the 20. shading and emphasize the distinctness produced by the configuration, making the design more clearly apparent to the viewer, especially when the stone is colored, brightening the raised parts and deepening the shadows of the depressions and emphasizing the bounding lines between them.

The holding part of the setting may be of any usual or desirable form, and may be applied to a large variety of articles of jewelry such as;

buttons, studs and other forms of jewelry where a carved plaque is to be used, its surface protected and the distinctness of its configuration emphasized. They have the general character of settings in which an intaglio or rilievo is placed beneath a magnifying stone that is sufficiently transparent to show the design. The stone is either natural or artificial.

As it would take more space than consistent with a concise specification to describe particularly and individually all of the many varieties of settings coming within the foregoing general but explicit statement of my invention, I will add merely the description of a form of my invention which I regard as its best embodiment,

"namely, of a setting in which the portion holding the stone is a bezel wall, within the enclosed area of which the plaque is placed. This description is to be taken only as an example to aid the reader in practicing my invention and not as a limitation on it.

In this description:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a setting of this preferred type of my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of this setting. Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Figs. 4 and 5 are elevations, the stone. Fig. 6 is at a quadrants turn from each other, of

a side elevation where the stone is round and plano-convex.

In the drawing, the setting is ried by a ring.

shown as carsetting has a bezel wall 5, within which is the plaque 6 having the sculptured face 2, which may be either intaglio or rilievo.

The stone 1 ,is lens shaped. It is set in the bezel walls 5, so

that it is positioned above the plaque 6, covering the sculptured surface 2. It may also cover a plane surface 3, which may be part of the plaque or part of the base of the setting. The sculptured surface may exhibit a building, which is often very effective and is often used in school jewelry. A sculptured plaque if not protected is readily worn away, especially if it is minutely carved, as rings of this kind often are,

and as there is but little contrast between the slightly raised portions and those more depressed, the bare plaque is often quite indistinct. Viewed through a stone that magnifies and is placed quite close to the sculpture, and with the focal distance of the stone approximate to a lens formed by it, the shadows are deepened and the raised portions,

especially the edges of the raised portions are brightened, making the configurations very distinct. This effect is very noticeable when a colored transparent stone is used in the setting.

The sculptured plaque may or other material 10,

be set in enamel as shown especially in Fig.

The shape of the stone 1 is adaptable to the contour of the area enclosed by the holding portion of the bezel walls; if this area is oval the stone, when shown in Figs. 4 and viewed in elevation, may appear as 5, its thickness at the edges varying from a lesser thickness as shown at b to a greater thickness as shown at a, or a round stone may have a co nstant edge thickness 0, see

Fig. 6. The lens-like form may be of any desired magnifying type.

It is illustrated as a double convex and as a plano-convex, but my invention is not to be limited to these two types of lenses or to what may be provided wit is strictly a lens, for stones h surfaces that strictly and technically could not be called lenses, but yet give ing that I desire. and frequently are c the general effect of magnifying and ton- Such kinds of stones may alled lenses and it is in this 9 is a portion of a ring. The 69?"? 2. In a jewelry setting, a sculptured plaque having the design thereon formed by raised and depressed portions, positioned at the base of the setting, a magnifying stone having the shape of a lens and colored, positioned in the setting, at a fixed distance in front of the plaque, and set a distance less than the focal distance of said lens, and means forming a part of the setting that hold fixedly the plaque and the magnify ing lens and the plaque at this distance apart.

3. The device as defined in claim 1, wherein the means for holding the plaque and the magnifying stone in their relative positions are a bezel ring and a supporting base.

HARRY L. WITTE. 

